SHAKESPEARE'S BOY ACTORS.
London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1939.
1st Edition. Hardcover. First edition of the author's rare first book. 8vo., pp. vii, 207, [1] [Bibliography]. Publisher's [electric] blue cloth covered boards, clean blue topstain, gilt-lettered at the spine with the blind-embossed crest on the front cover. Eight black & white plates. A very nice, near fine or better copy, in a very good or better copy of the rare [pc] illustrated white dustwrapper showing minimal use; 1 tear neatly mended on the verso of the back panel. An excellent, bright, unfaded example of this Davies highspot & in definite collector's condition. Davies account of the life & training of the Elizabethan boy actors, a consideration of their particular abilities & shortcomings, & discussion of the extent to which these actors set free or hampered Shakespeare in his female characterizations. Very scarce indeed. Most of the edition was pulped to accommodate the paper shortage of the war years. Perhaps a few hundred copies were actually sold which accounts for its infrequent appearance on the market. In the last twenty-five years, less than a dozen copies have surfaced in varying states of perfection or lack thereof, usually without dustwrapper, in both the Toronto & Montreal markets.
Item #32949 Price: US$3,985.00